COUPLES USE A.G.'S WORDS AGAINST HIM IN CALIF. CASE: From the San Francisco Chronicle

A group of gay and lesbian couples and the city of San Francisco are trying to use Attorney General Bill Lockyer's cautious defense of California's ban on same-sex marriage to their advantage as they challenge the law.

In separate filings Monday before San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer, lawyers for the couples and the city claimed that Lockyer had virtually conceded one of their main points--that domestic partnership falls far short of marriage, even under a new California law that provides partners many of the same benefits as spouses. That law is due to take effect Jan. 1, but is also being challenged in court.

Kramer is scheduled to hear arguments Dec. 22 on whether the ban on same- sex marriage discriminates unconstitutionally on the basis of sex or sexual orientation. Lockyer, in a filing last month, contended California has a policy of treating intimate partners equally--as illustrated by the domestic partner law--but is entitled to follow "the deeply rooted and historic understanding of marriage.'' ...

Stephen Bomse, a lawyer for 12 couples seeking the right to marry, said Lockyer had undercut his own argument with his position in a separate case in Sacramento, in which Lockyer defended the domestic partner law by maintaining that it was less than marriage.

In that suit, opponents of gay rights claimed that the new law was the equivalent of same-sex marriage, which California voters prohibited in 2000. A Sacramento Superior Court judge disagreed in September and now faces a recall petition.

"The attorney general eloquently explained that California's dual system of marriage laws and domestic partnership laws carefully maintain second-class status for same-sex couples and their families,'' Bomse wrote.

He cited Lockyer's recitation in the Sacramento case of the rights enjoyed only by married couples--including joint tax returns, nationwide recognition and federal benefits--and quoted Lockyer's statement that "marriage has a unique role in society that no domestic partnership law or civil union can duplicate.''

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posted by Eve at 1:21 AM VOTE

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